


Affection

by NovaHeart



Category: The Stanley Parable
Genre: 5+1 Things, Affection, Established Relationship, Fluff, Love, M/M, References to Easter Eggs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:02:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27003985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaHeart/pseuds/NovaHeart
Summary: Five times the Narrator indirectly showed Stanley his affection, and the one time he opted for a more direct approach.A cute and fluffy story I wrote for TSP's 7th birthday!
Relationships: The Narrator/Stanley (The Stanley Parable)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 93





	Affection

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the 5+1 prompt in other fandoms and decided to write a story with that prompt for TSP too! I needed a break after writing What Lies Within Secrets, and fluff seemed like the best way to go. 
> 
> Also when I say "TSP's 7th Birthday" I mean the 7th anniversary of the HD remix's release.
> 
> The Stanley Parable was created by Galactic Café.

The first time it happened, he had just completed a Freedom Ending run.

It wasn't the first time he experienced that ending, and it most certainly wouldn't be the last. Every so often he liked to follow the Narrator's orders, to show him that he still cared.

The Narrator seemed to have taken notice of this, because on Stanley's desk, right next to his keyboard, was a white button with a red 8 on it. Stanley pressed it to the sound of "eight", and nothing more.

***

There was no way the door was purposefully left unlocked.

The Narrator never previously allowed Stanley to disobey his orders; he never deliberately provided a new way for Stanley to get off-track. But there it was, a new passageway to explore, right in front of him. The only explanation he could come up with was that it was an accident. That's why the Narrator never brought it up. He wanted him to ignore it and move on. Just like with the Broom Closet.

However, this opportunity would only present itself once, or at least Stanley believed so. He entered the corridor.

The Narrator's only comment was to tell Stanley how to return to his chosen path.

***

It was waiting for him in his office.

Sitting there, on his desk, next to his computer, was a mug filled with coffee. Steam was rising from it, meaning it was fresh. He knew he hadn't done it. Whenever he came back here, to this office, to this space where his coworkers were gone and he didn't know what it meant, the mug was always empty and on the other side of his desk, nearly across the room. Plus, he couldn't enter the break room from his parable. He would've had to do that before he sat down in front of his computer and started following orders.

Stanley had stopped making himself coffee a while ago. He never could finish his cup before its contents went cold, due to how much time he spent in his mind while at work.

Yet here it was.

The only plausible explanation was that the Narrator had left it there for him. Stanley eyed it warily, wondering if he had poisoned it. If perhaps the choice to drink it would be the wrong one.

But the Narrator had never gone out of his way to kill Stanley before. Sure, he never tried to save him, except for in the starry dome room, but he never set elaborate traps (or any traps at all, really) for the sole purpose of ending Stanley's life, or causing him pain. He decided to give the coffee a chance.

As he picked up the mug, careful not to spill it or burn his hands, he brought it up to his lips and tentatively sipped the coffee.

To his delight, it was made just how he liked it.

***

"Following Stanley" boomed from the speakers in the building as Stanley followed the Adventure Line™ through one of the records rooms, winding his way around rows of filing cabinets and columns that supported the floor above.

He passed by a hallway where there was a huge room visible behind glass panels to his right, and a few filing cabinets to his left with papers scattered about on the floor. He glanced at the dark room, only to find that, per the description on the door that led to the inside, it was a repository for Employee 432's peer reviews. Something about this was unsettling to him. However, since the door was locked, that meant there was no way for him to explore the area. He decided to move on.

Stanley trekked ahead and passed by a fern. The Narrator stopped him. "Wait! Cut the music!" he exclaimed. "Go back and look at that plant."

...plant? The Narrator had always said "fern" before, and he thought that's what the plant had been, so he hadn't given it a second thought in passing. He backtracked to the room and stopped in front of it.

Employee 427 was shocked but pleasantly surprised to discover that in place of the fern, there were his favorite flowers in full bloom.

***

Outside of his office, an envelope had been taped to his door.

Stanley had never come across something like this, and was curious to find out what was going on. He plucked it off of door 427 and opened it.

Inside was a shred of paper which had writing on it that read, "430".

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at the door of office 430. Sure enough, another envelope was taped there. Tossing the old envelope in the trash and pocketing the note, he approached the next one. He removed it from the door, opened it, and found another piece of paper, this time with the number "417" written on it.

Was the Narrator responsible for this? He had to be. Stanley had never previously encountered this situation. Mostly eager, yet a little apprehensive, he moved on through the office complexes and entered the corridor with office 417. Another envelope was pasted to the door. After taking it down and opening it, Stanley was taken aback to discover that the next note's instruction was "Right".

"Right"? As in the right door in the Two Doors room? But the Narrator hated when Stanley disobeyed orders and deviated from the story. Why would he tell him to do just that?

He snapped out of his musing when the Narrator gave his narration at the Two Doors room. "When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left."

Except, he didn't. He wanted to follow the note's directions. This was new and exciting.

Of course, going the "wrong way" meant he had to ignore the Narrator's snarky remarks about the fact that Stanley chose the right door instead of the left one as he was supposed to, and about the Employee Lounge ahead. Which wasn't too big of a deal, except he nearly missed the end of the narration, in which the Narrator said, "Stanley moved about as though he were searching for something, making sure he got to know every nook and cranny of the lounge. Little did he know that what he had been looking for all this time was hidden in plain sight."

That confirmed his suspicions from earlier that the Narrator had been the one leaving the envelopes behind, at least. He saw the envelope on the other door of the Employee Lounge and pulled it down, then read the paper inside.

"Closet."

While Stanley was looking forward to his next clue, because this adventure really was fun, he was a bit worried about where it led. After all, he was making a lot of choices that would typically annoy the Narrator; even though he was the one who set up this event, it simply felt strange. Employee 427 exited the corridor and passed through the maintenance section into the meeting room with his heart pounding just a bit faster in his chest.

Once the Narrator said that Stanley had decided to go to the Boss's office, hoping he might find an answer there, Stanley instead detoured to the Broom Closet after departing from the meeting room. There was no envelope on either side of the door, which he found odd. He scanned the closet for any kind of envelope, but found none. There were just cleaning and other janitorial supplies, and...

Oh? There was a plastic, egg-shaped object on one of the shelves on the rack in the closet. That had never been there before. Stanley smiled slightly when he saw that it was his favorite color, then he took it from the shelf and found that it could open. With a pop, he unsealed the egg, and found two things inside: a small folded paper, and a piece of his favorite candy.

He felt a warmth in his chest as he unfolded and inspected the note, and his smile widened when he read the words written on it: "I hope you've enjoyed this Easter Egg hunt. -The Narrator".

***

He had no idea what was happening.

The Narrator had blinded him, but from what Stanley could understand, he was hurrying to do something. "Now give me a moment, please, Stanley. I need to get this set up, and I want to make sure it's perfect."

He was quite excited to find out what it was that his partner was preparing. Then a small voice in his head questioned if the Narrator was preparing some sort of grueling experience for him to test in the name of game development and artistry, and suddenly Stanley was no longer excited. Instead, he sat there, wondering what reason the Narrator had to be upset with him. If there was none, then this couldn't possibly be a bad surprise, right?

He remembered that his previous run-through of the story had been the path that led to the ending where, for some reason, he was referred to as a "real person" (which he was already) and told to "behave exactly as Stanley would" (which, since he was Stanley, was quite easy for him to do). The office building had become corrupt, the Narrator had yelled at him for ruining his story and not listening at all, and then he was frozen in place, unable to do anything. The Narrator begged for him to make a choice, any one he wanted, sounding like he was on the verge of tears. Employee 427 broke out into a cold sweat. Perhaps it was time to pray that there was an afterlife and that he would be granted peace as he crossed over from this life into the next...

"Alright, that just about does it," the Narrator told him. "You may open your eyes now, Stanley."

Stanley had had his eyes closed? He thought he had been blinded. Well, no matter. It was now or never, the moment of truth. He opened his eyes slowly, fear of what he would see gnawing at his insides.

To his relief, he found out that he was in a place called the Serious Room. This wasn't an area he had been to often- whenever he had ended up here, it was never of his own volition- but at least he knew there was nothing here that would hurt him. However, something _was_ different this time. On the table that the Narrator had so carefully picked out sat a quite wonderfully decorated cake with a single candle in it.

By this point, Stanley felt he could trust the Narrator to not poison him. He had the opportunity to do it with the coffee, but didn't, and by that point they had been through plenty of both good and bad adventures together. He looked over the cake, admiring its design, and realized there were words written in icing on the top. They said, "Happy Anniversary!"

Wait... an anniversary? Was that today? Stanley had lost track of time while adventuring through his mind. He felt a pit form in his stomach. How could he be so insensitive? Maybe the Narrator _should_ poison him, he thought bitterly. That would be an appropriate response to forgetting something so important to the both of them. He buried his face in his hands.

"Now, I'm not expecting anything from you, Stanley," the Narrator said, causing Stanley to pick up his head. "I know how utterly forgetful you are, so I bought this cake as a gift to the both of us. It is _our_ anniversary, after all. And it's not as though..." he trailed off, which caused 427 to don a confused expression. After a few moments, he continued, his voice much quieter, "It's not as though I love you any less for it."

There were very few times the Narrator had ever said the words "I love you" to Stanley. He felt his heart leap, and his negative feelings dissipated. There was no way for him to keep from grinning as he reciprocated the sentiment, letting the Narrator know that he loved him too.


End file.
